About Hazrat Shahjalal Intl. Airport
When Bangladesh was a state of Pakistan, in 1966, the construction of the airport was started in Dhaka, which is the capital of the country today, with the support of French experts. Airport construction stopped after the outbreak of the civil war in 1971 and then started again after Bangladesh gained its independence. The airport was opened to service in 1980 under the name of Dacca International Airport. As part of the expansion works initiated at the airport in 1992, a new terminal area and boarding bridges were constructed. In 2010, the airport was named after Shah Jalal, who was one of Bangladesh's important leaders. Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport is also used by the Bangladesh Air Force for military purposes. The airport serves in a single storey terminal building consisting of three terminals. The airport has a terminal building for VIP passengers and the airport has an annual passenger average of approximately 6 million people.
Getting to the City Center from Hazrat Shahjalal Intl. Airport
Travelling to Dhaka from Hazrat Shahjalal Airport is practical and easy. As you can travel to the city center by renting a car with a private driver or benefitting from taxi companies; it is possible to get on a bus and reach the city center by paying 5 Taka. The public transportation network in Dhaka isn’t very developed and the means of public transportation aren’t generally preferred because of the insufficient security measures in the city. For your transportation in the city, the most convenient and economical means of transportation that you can take advantage of during your visit are rickshaws working with taxi system. In addition to these, you can rent a car with a driver or use buses for your shorter distance travels. When you leave the terminal of Hazrat Shahjalal Airport and walk for 5 minutes, you will see a small bus station. From this station, buses operate at frequent intervals and carry passengers to Dhaka. The fare you need to pay in order to get one of the buses that pick passengers up on Airport Road is 5 Taka by 2016. It is difficult to find a bus after 08:00 pm because public transportation is not safe enough. The last stop of the buses carrying passengers from the airport to the city center is the Gulistan bus terminal located in the city. Thanks to the colorful rickshaws that you can see at the exit of the airport terminal, you can get to Dhaka city center in a very short time. There are three different types of rickshaws in terms of speed and size. There are auto-rickshaws, cycle-rickshaws and tempo-rickshaws. These vehicles are the most popular means of transportation among tourists. If there is too much traffic and you are in a hurry, you can get on a rickshaw. Auto-rickshaws having a fare of only 10 Taka per kilometer can be one of the most affordable and reasonable options to go to the city center from the airport. If you want to get to Dhaka city center from Hazrat Shahjalal Airport by taxi, you need to pay approximately 400 Taka. This travel lasts an average of 30-40 minutes. Yellow Navana taxis and black taxis offer transportation service in the city. The yellow taxis are more comfortable yet more expensive than the black ones. The most practical way to get to Dhaka city center from Hazrat Shahjalal Airport is to rent a car with a driver. You can find a car just outside the terminal building. The fact that public transportation isn’t generally preferred because of the lack of security measures directs tourists to use safer means of transportation. You can rent a car from one of the car rental companies located at the airport or rent a car with a driver for your transportation. You can pay less if you make a reservation by contacting Dhaka Airport Car Rental company (+8801987007034). In addition, companies such as Hertz, Europcar and Elite Car also offer service at the airport.Bus
Rickshaw
Taxi
Car Rental
Getting to Hazrat Shahjalal Intl. Airport from the City Center
Since Dhaka is not a big city in terms of its surface area, it is very easy to use taxi, private car, rickshaw, bus and similar means of transportation in urban transportation or for travelling to the airport from the city center.
Bus
The names of the four main bus terminals in the city; Sayedabad bus terminal, Gulistan bus terminal, Gabtoli bus terminal and Mohakhali bus terminal. From these four terminals, there are direct bus services going to the airport. It is very cheap to use buses for travelling to the airport. It is only 5 Taka to take advantage of Dhaka buses. Throughout the city, the prices of bus tickets do not exceed 10 Taka.
Rickshaw
The most popular means of transportation in Dhaka, where more than 400.000 rickshaws offer transportation service, are rickshaws also called three-wheeled taxis. They are divided into two as auto-rickshaw and cycle-rickshaw. The three-wheeled taxis called cycle-rickshaw are generally used for sightseeing just like bicycles. Auto-rickshaws are much faster than the other and much cheaper than normal taxis.
You need to pay 30-50 Taka for travelling with cycle-rickshaw for 15 minutes. The auto-rickshaws run by the CNG company also work with taximeter and the fares start from 25 Taka. It is both practical and enjoyable to travel to Hazrat Shahjalal Airport from the city center by using an auto-rickshaw. Tempo-rickshaws also offer transportation service and they are bigger than auto-rickshaws.
Taxi
There are two types of taxis offering service in Dhaka and they have different fares. These are black and yellow taxis. The black taxis open their taximeters from 25 Taka. The yellow taxis are almost twice as expensive. With the taxi that you can get on in the city, you can get to Hazrat Shahjalal Airport in about 25-30 minutes. If you will prefer Airport Departure Taxi for your transportation, you will need to pay about 300 Taka for your transportation between the city center and Hazrat Shahjalal Airport.
Car Rental
It is possible to get to the airport from the city center in about 25-30 minutes by renting a car from one of the car rental companies that you can see almost in every part of the city. If you have an international driver’s license, you can rent a car by paying 3000 Taka for half-day use; you need to pay about 4500 Taka for full day use. You can get to Hazrat Shahjalal Airport by using Dhaka-Mymensingh highway (N3).
Airport Information
Hazrat Shahjalal Airport, which is the largest airport of Bangladesh, has a capacity of 15 million passengers per year. The airport is located in Kurmitola and 20 km north of the city center of the capital city Dhaka. Hazrat Shahjalal Airport, which is also known as Zia International Airport, has many facilities for passengers such as currency exchange, bank and ATMs, eating and drinking areas, tourist information offices and free internet access.
